Journey Through Johto
by Radiohead97
Summary: Andrew just moved in to Johto from Hoenn with a starter already in tow. He only sees his journey as a way of getting out of the house and doesn't plan on making any friends, human or pokemon. Is something gonna change? Rated T for themes, language, and mild to moderate violence.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, sorry about ending my other two stories so abruptly... I promise I will get this story done even if it kills me. I hope it doesn't ^^;**

**Anyway, enjoy.**

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Today was the first day of hell...

The sun wasn't really that high, but it was high enough to have a ray hit my eyes. I closed my eyes tightly, hoping it would just go away. It didn't, but I moved my head so that it wouldn't affect me.

Attempt at waking me up number one failed.

So when the sun failed, my alarm clock went off. I reached out for the snooze button and pounded the shit out of that.

Attempt at waking me up number two fell.

I made the unfortunate mistake of not closing my door all the way. All that a Delcatty had to do was use its head to just nudge it open and waltz into my room. She jumped on my couch, yes I live on a couch because my room is so small, and licked my ear. It caused me to squirm a little.

Attempt at waking me up number three fa-

Then she started doing happy feet. I was caught off guard and it caused me to fall out of bed. For those of you lucky enough not to have a cat of some kind, happy feet is when a cat hops up on you and starts pushing its feet into you. Oh, I should also mention that they use their claws when doing this too. I laid on the ground, tangled up in my sheets. As the Delcatty walked out of my room the same way she came in, I glanced up at Betty, who was staring right at me.

Betty is my stepmother. She and my dad just got married and since he would walk in front of a bus for her, we're moving from Hoenn all the way to Johto. I was not looking forward to this at all. Betty was a cliché mother, she was like the mother from the movie "Pleasantville", who was also named Betty. She wore her heels, her hair all put up, red lipstick, and even had the dress that her look like a 50's TV sitcom mother.

"Andrew" she said to me, "Come on, your breakfast is getting cold. You don't want Mary Sue to eat it all by herself, do you?" I looked at the Delcatty standing a distance from Betty, and evil glare in the former's eyes. I looked at Betty and stood up.

"You're not seriously coming to the table in that, are you?" I looked down at myself. I had on a white t-shirt, wrinkles and faint stains covering it, and a pair of boxer shorts.

"No Betty..." I said, "I was going to come down in my birthday suit." She gave me the stink eye.

"Try that and Mary Sue gets it all." She closed the door after she was done talking and let me get dressed. I took a brush to my dirty blonde hair, which is longer than most other boys, but still above my shoulders. I pulled out a black and purple long sleeve shirt, striped, and put that on. It was the first thing I grabbed but I didn't really care. I grabbed a pair of green pants and put those on since I thought it went with my shirt. I figured I would wear this to the table, then I'd grab the rest of my outfit. I put on my red shoes and went downstairs.

The one good thing about Betty is that she makes some amazing meals. She worked at a diner before marrying my dad. I guess he married her for the cooking. And in case you're wondering what my dad looks like, I can sum it up in five words or less; he looks like John Malkovich. He really does, I'm not kidding. I'm not even kidding, his name IS John. It's John fucking Malkovich, without it being actually John fucking Malkovich. None of us ever realized it until we watched "Being John Malkovich".

I grabbed some pancakes and eggs, as well as a few strips of bacon to eat when my dad spoke up.

"So Andrew, I hear that Professor Birch is gonna give you a Pokémon before we move." I nodded, confirming this rumor.

"Yeah, he said think of it as a goodbye gift and as a way of saying thanks for helping out at the lab."

"Can't believe you're going on to be a trainer, Andrew..." Betty said. She was a coordinator, and proud of it. Mary Sue was her first Pokémon too.

"Well, believe it Betty. While you and dad are gonna be busy with housekeeping and work, I'm gonna be out in the wild. Just me and whatever Pokémon I get."

"You're not going to find anyone to travel with?" Betty asked.

"No, I'm not really a social guy..."

"Well it would be nice to make all the friends you can get. Maybe you'll meet a girl there and you two will fall in love and-"

"Betty," my dad said "That's enough. Let the kid eat in peace. If he wants to travel alone, let him travel alone. He's going to a region that he's not familiar with, so he wouldn't know anybody there."

"Exactly." I said. We pretty much continued the rest of the meal talking about how I planned out my journey. I was gonna start in New Bark Town, where Professor Elm's lab is, challenge the eight gyms before going to the Pokémon League, then I'd go to Kanto and try my luck at the eight gyms there. I finished up breakfast, gave my plate to Betty to wash, grabbed my red jacket that belonged to my older brother, my black beanie, and my blue headphones and went over to Birch's Lab. I knocked on the door and an assistant came over.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm here to get my first Pokémon."

"Name please?"

"Andrew Burnham. Professor Birch is expecting me."

"Ah Andrew," the lab assistant said to me. "Yes, Birch was expecting you. Unfortunately, he's out doing research at the moment. You may be able to find him outside of the town." I smiled, trying to hide my annoyance,

"Okay, I'll go look for him." I said as I left the lab. Great, just great... He's expecting me, but then he's all like I'm gonna go do research and leave him behind. This is the thanks I get for helping out around the lab. Thanks Birch... e.e

"GAAAHHH! HELP ME!" I heard a voice come from the road. I ran up the road to see something pathetic. Professor Birch was clinging to a tree branch, a Zigzagoon trying to get to him. I had no idea that Zigzagoon were _that_ dangerous. I had to bite my tongue so I wouldn't laugh. I swear I could taste blood in my mouth. Birch spotted me and called out for help "Andrew! Help me! Get a Pokémon from my bag!"

I didn't hesitate for a moment. I grabbed the first poke ball I found and hoped for the best.

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**And there's Chapter 1. Tell me what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

I opened up the poke ball and out came a Mudkip.

"That'll work!" Professor Birch called out to me. I looked down at the Mudkip expecting something from him. He looked at me, expecting something from me too.

"Tell him to use Water Gun!" Professor Birch told me.

"Mudkip use Water Gun." I said, pointing at the Zigzagoon. Mudkip did just as I said and shot water at the Pokémon. My guess was that the Zigzagoon just wanted to play, because as soon as the water hit him, he ran off. I sighed and Professor Birch climbed down from the tree.

"Thank you, Andrew. You saved my life." I bit my tongue trying not to laugh.

"From what?"

"That Zigzagoon, of course. Come on, let's go back to the lab." I rolled my eyes and followed him back to the lab. As we were walking, I noticed that Mudkip was walking beside me, doing his best to keep up with my pace. We got back to the lab and Professor Birch turned around to look at me.

"Well Andrew, thanks again for saving me. Normally I'd ask you to choose your start," He looked down at my leg, "but I think the starter has chosen you." I looked down and saw Mudkip sitting next to me, looking up as if he was expecting something. I saw that something seemed different about this Mudkip. Most starters look young and filled with energy. This one looked a bit older and was more mature.

I was ready to say no, but something in the back of my mind got past my speech filter and made me say "Sure, I'll take Mudkip." Before I could correct myself, I found Mudkip's poke ball in my hand. I was just about to recall Mudkip when Professor Birch stopped me and asked,

"Most trainers give their Pokémon names. Would you like to name your Mudkip?" I thought for a moment and my speech filter was broken again, because my mouth ended up saying. "Lester" Crap! Why did I name my Mudkip after the loser dad from American Beauty?

"Mud!" He liked the name. I couldn't take that away from him. I nodded and said his name is Lester before returning him. Afterwards, Professor Birch gave me my pokedex, as well as some poke balls. I began to walk out of the house when Professor Birch said,

"One more thing. When you get to New Bark Town, you need to meet with Professor Elm. He'll give you your Johto Trainer's License." I nodded and walked out to see the moving truck already there. I went to the front of the truck and saw that my dad, Betty, and Mary Sue were all in the front seat, no room for Andrew.

"Sorry, Andrew, you're gonna have to ride in the back. Mary Sue wanted to ride in the front. She doesn't want to go in the luxury ball." I was just about ready to flip my shit, but I couldn't say anything, so I walked to the back and I swear to god I heard that damn Delcatty snickering as I was walking to the back.

Once I was inside, I saw that there were sandwiches, snacks, and drinks in a cooler for me. I also found my red jacket, black knit cap, and green army backpack. They knew Mary Sue wanted to ride up in the front, so they got all my stuff in the back beforehand. Clever bastards...

Oh, one more thing, the ride was horrible. Yeah, it was. My dad chose to take every bumpy road and every winding road. I was getting tossed around so much that I was scared to let Lester out of his poke ball. I had nothing to secure myself with, so I was sliding all over the place. I heard the engine stop and I was ready to open the door when I got a text message. I looked at my phone. Wow... I get five bars in the back of a truck. Anyway, the message read 'Open the door and all of our stuff will be in the water.'

With that message, I noticed two things. One, I finally found out how we're getting off the island. And two, Betty, the person who sent the message, doesn't care if I drown or not. She just wants her stuff to be okay. She treats Mary Sue better than me... I could feel us getting back on dry land because we did the bumpy, windy route before we finally stopped and my dad opened the door, letting in the blinding light. Betty was also standing outside, no sign of Mary Sue anywhere.

"And Mary Sue is...?"

"Oh, forgot to tell you, she didn't want to stay out the entire trip. So sometime in the first leg, she went back in her Luxury Ball." I grumbled and got out. That damn Delcatty hated my guts, and I hated her back. We carried all of our stuff inside and I began to unpack everything labelled "Andrew's Room". Made my bed, sets up my bookshelf, desk, nightstand, hung up my posters and pictures, hooked up the TV, all that fun stuff you do after a move. I grabbed my stuff and headed out the door, telling Betty I was going to walk around the town.

I let Lester out of his poke ball to get some fresh air. It looked like he was trying to get used to the light too. He looked up at me.

"Welcome to Johto. Don't worry about getting lost, I'm new here too." I chuckled a little and turned around just in time for something to tackle me down to the ground. It had its paws on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. It was a Quilava, and from its slim appearance, I could tell it was female. It looked back and began nuzzling her face into mine, even going as far as to lick my face. I was confused, but then I saw a person with a knife and he was pissed.

"Hey kid, this your Quilava?" He said with an enraged tone. I wasn't that into Pokémon, personally, but I didn't hate them either. I was, however, completely against killing a Pokémon.

"Yes, she belongs to me."

"Keep her on a goddamn leash, kid. I don't want any Pokémon going through my garbage." He stormed off. When he was Quilava licked my cheek lovingly. Now that I was done playing the charade, I pushed her off and wiped my face.

"Dear god, your breath stinks." I sniffed the air.

"You stink too." She saw one of my poke balls fall out of my bag and pressed her nose against it, activating it. She went inside and it clicked almost instantly, as if she was accepting capture. I held up the poke ball and let her out. She nuzzled up against my leg as I thought of a name for her. I looked down at her.

"Torch." She looked at me and tilted her head. "Your name is Torch."

"Quilava!" Torch leaned up so she could rub her head against my hand. I soon found Professor Elm's lab and walked inside.

"Ah, you must be Andrew. Professor Birch has told me all about you." Did he mention the part about how I saved him for a Zigzagoon?

"Yes I am." I responded. Elm looked at Lester and Torch and his eyes went wide when his gaze went to Torch.

"Well now, Birch told me about your Mudkip, but he didn't tell me about your Quilava."

"Yeah, she chose to come with me. I allowed it since it was either she comes with me or she gets killed." Elm nodded.

"I see." I looked down and saw that Torch was hugging my leg. I just took a step to the side and she just stood on her back legs.

"If you'll come with me, Andrew, we can fill out all of your information for your trainer's license." He took me to a computer, asked me some questions, took my photo, and now I have my ugly mug on a little laminated card that has my full name, hometown, date of birth (September 17, 1999), etc. I walked out of the lab, with the knowledge that the first gym is in Violet City, which isn't the next town, but the town after that. Lester climbed on my shoulder, and Torch was content with just being out of her poke ball next to me.

Just as my focus went elsewhere, Torch's flames went up and she started growling. In front of us was an Aron, just staring at me.

"Grrron?" It said. No. I'm not saving anymore Pokémon. I'm not some goddamn rescue shelter, I can't keep doing that. Luckily, a voice called out for it, this one nicer than the one that was after Torch.

"Aron? Where are you?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Aron? Where are you?" The Aron looked back and called out, responding to the voice. A girl who was around 18 or so came out. She had long black hair, an orange coat, and a light blue scarf wrapped around her neck. Below her brown shorts were black and white striped socks with purple sneakers. The Aron went up to her and she scooped it up into her arms.

"Hi, you must be new here." She said to me.

"Uh... yes I am." I said to her.

"I'm Sera. Sera McKenna." She extended a hand. "It's nice to meet you and I can't wait to travel with you." I looked at the hand and refused it.

"My name is Andrew Burnham. And I'd rather travel alone." I walked away from her and she ran ahead and walked backwards as she talked to me.

"What? Why don't you like traveling with others? Don't you like making friends?"

"It's not that I don't like making friends. I just prefer traveling alone."

"But don't you ever get lonely?"

"Why would I ever get lonely? I have my Pokémon, right? And you do too. That's all the company you need on a journey. Besides, all you're gonna do is slow me down and distract me." Sera tripped on a rock and fell flat on her back.

"That's what you get for walking backwards." I said as I walked past her. Sera grumbled and got up. Sera continued to walk behind me in silence. When I looked back to see her, she was mocking me.

"Don't look backwards, it'll cause you to trip." She said in a mocking voice. I faced forward again and continued on. We reached a fork in the road and I went to the left and continued down the road. I looked back and saw that Sera was gone. She must've gone the other way, but I didn't really care. I continued down the road, trained Lester and Torch a little before we got to Cherrygrove.

I went inside to get a little food in me, as well as a place to rest up for a bit. Violet City wasn't too far away from here, which meant that i wasn't too far away from my first gym badge. As I was thinking about how awesome it will be to battle gym leaders, I heard a sob coming from the center. I went over to the computers and saw a girl crying at a computer. She was on a video call with some older adults. The crying girl had short black hair, violet eyes, and a brown overcoat with a white turtleneck and a red scarf. She also had on dark green pants. I listened in on their conversation, but did my best to stay out of the camera.

"Chloë... don't cry..."

"How can I, grandma? Daddy kicked me out of the house."

"Now why would he do that?"

"He doesn't want me to 'contaminate' anyone else in the town..."

"Why would he think that?"

"G-Grandma... I came out to him. I'm a lesbian..."

"Oh my... well, I respect your decision, dear. And I won't treat you any differently."

"Okay Grandma... I gotta go now..."

"Oh, Chloë, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"You don't have to go all the way to New Bark to get your first Pokémon."

"Wh-What do you mean?"

"You'll see." The grandmother hung up after that. The girl, Chloë, looked back at me and saw that I was looking at her. She snapped at me.

"What? What do you want?"

I said nothing. She walked over to the counter.

"Name please?"

"Chloë Partridge. I was told I'd have a package for me."

"Ah yes, Chloë." Nurse Joy pulled out a small box. "Here you go."

"Thanks." She walked to the back of the Pokémon center, where a patio and a couple of practice fields were located. I followed her there and she opened the box. She read the note inside out loud.

"Chloë, I figured you'd want someone to keep you company." She took out a poke ball and smiled as if she knew what was inside. She opened up the poke ball and out of the poke ball came a Pokémon I remembered because my mom always had one. A Meganium. Chloë smiled as she hugged the Pokémon's neck.

"I missed you Magnolia." So she was someone who named their Pokémon too? Interesting. Magnolia could sense Chloë's sadness, I guess, and leaned down to nuzzle her. The Meganium then noticed me and looked in my direction. Chloë looked over too.

"What do you want, dude? Are you here to make fun of me?"

"No, no, it's not that."

"Then what?"

"You have any money on you?"

"No, why?"

This girl had nowhere to go, no human friends, no money. All she has is her Meganium. For some reason, I felt a strange feeling in my gut and something in my mind told me to be nice. I chose to give it a try to asked her.

"Let me buy you dinner." The words just came out of my mouth. I expected her to say no and just storm off, like every girl I meet.

"Okay." Wait... what?

We had our dinner and talked a bit about ourselves as our Pokémon were talking too.

"So you're from Hoenn?" I nodded.

"Wow, what's it like?"

"Well, some of the towns are on islands, and some of the towns adapt to their environments. Almost all of Fortree's buildings are in trees."

"Oh that's cool."

We continued talking and, for the first time, I met a person who was able to hold my interest. I can't say I have a crush on her, though... which sucks because she seems nice. Why is it that when a guy meets a girl, and they realize they have a lot in common, hell, almost everything in common, she turns out to be a lesbian? It doesn't seem fair, and I've seen it happen before. I would go on about this, but she whispered something to me.

"You wanna know something Andrew?" she asked.

"Sure... what is it?"

"I can understand what Pokémon are saying. It's a gift I was born with, but I never discovered it until I was in school. It was something I thought everyone had. I was wrong... they called me a freak because of it... nobody would want to hang out with me... the only friend I had my entire life was Magnolia."

"Wow... I'm so sorry, Chloë... I-"

"I have a fear of Pokémon too. I was almost killed by a pack of Houndoom." She pulled down her turtle neck, revealing a scar on the bottom of her neck. I looked at it in shock. This girl, who I thought of as lucky for having this gift of understanding Pokémon, was also haunted by a bitter memory.

"I-If you want to come with me, you can." I told her. I don't know why I said that to her. I guess there was just a part of me that felt sorry for the poor girl. I was expecting her to reject my offer.

"O-Okay..." she said to me, a smile appearing on her face. I was able to crack a small smile at her, though to others, it appeared more like a smirk of approval. I led her over to my two Pokémon, who were interacting with her one Pokémon. Lester and Torch turned to face me as I spoke.

"Lester, Torch, this is Chloë. She's Magnolia's trainer, and she'll be traveling with us." I pointed at each character as I spoke. Chloë was just behind me gripping my shoulder, seemingly scared of being so close to the two Pokémon. I put a hand on hers and said,

"Don't worry, these two aren't gonna hurt you."

"I-I'm not worried about Mudkip... h-he's too small to hurt me..." she said, "It's Quilava I'm worried about..." Torch seemed to give a sad face.

"Their names are Lester and Torch. Here..." I asked Chloë to hold out her hand as I poured some Pokémon food into it. She crouched down and offered it to Torch. The Quilava went up to her and sniffer the Pokémon food before eating out of it. Chloë smiled softly and hesitantly extended another hand to pet her. Torch seemed content by the attention Chloë was giving her. When Torch was done with the food, Chloë stayed down and continued petting her. She purred at her touched.

"See? Torch is one of the sweetest Pokémon you'll meet." Torch gave something that was similar to a giggle and spoke in her own tongue. Chloë laughed.

"Yeah, I think so too."

"What did she say?" Both girls giggled.

"Oh, nothing." Chloë responded. If they were going to talk when I can't understand what they're saying, then I was in for a long journey.

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**And that was chapter three guys. I'm not sure when i'll get chapter four up since I have school going on now...**


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